Denzel Washington, Robert Zemeckis set for live-action 'Flight'

The Back to the Future filmmaker is making his first non-motion-capture movie since 2000’s Cast Away, Paramount Pictures announced today. Denzel Washington is set to star as an airline pilot who is hailed as a hero after landing a crippled jet with only a handful of deaths, but is plagued by guilt over things he did that may have caused the crash.

Over the past decade, Zemeckis has focused largely on the performance-based animation films The Polar Express, Beowulf, and Jim Carrey’s A Christmas Carol, though with somewhat diminishing enthusiasm from audiences and critics.

This is the first collaboration between Zemeckis and Washington. Flight begins filming in Atlanta next month.